Tony Hall, the new BBC director-general, has proposed capping severance
payments at £150,000 following the furore over the £450,000 paid to his
predecessor George Entwistle.

Lord Hall, who started the job on April 2, told MPs he was "confident" he could persuade staff and unions to agree to the limit.

It will affect 250 staff who would currently be entitled to a larger payoff if they were made redundant, and Lord Hall insisted there will no hidden pension top-ups which would take people's total severance package beyond £150,000 in the future.

Mr Entwistle was paid an entire year's salary when he left the BBC's top job last year, even though he had only been in the job for 54 days and resigned over his handling of the Jimmy Savile scandal, rather than being sacked.

The BBC Trust and its chairman Lord Patten came in for fierce criticism for agreeing to the payoff, which was twice what Mr Entwistle was contractually entitled to, and over other huge severance payments to other executives who had left in previous years.

As well as announcing the payoff cap to members of the parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport committee, Lord Hall sent an email to BBC staff saying it was "the right thing to do".

He wrote: "I believe that we have to address this because the settlements of the past can no longer be justified. It’s right, of course, that anyone who has given many years of service to the organisation should receive a percentage of their salary if they are made redundant.

"But, in the current economic climate, when our licence fee payers are facing tough economic circumstances themselves, when we are making programme cuts and we are asking our staff to do more with less, we have to limit the size of these payments.

"Although this will be a difficult announcement for some people, I believe it is the right thing to do. And whilst there is a strong case for change, we must do this in the right way and fairly for those affected."

He said there would be a period of consulation with senior managers whose contracts currently entitle them to larger payoffs if they are made redundant, though a "small number of staff" could get more than £150,000 if they were already in discussions over redundancy.

Under his proposal, senior managers will be entitled to one month's pay for each year of service up to a maximum of £150,000 if they lose their jobs.

During his first appearance before MPs since taking up the job, Lord Hall also defended his decision to take on the former Labour minister James Purnell as the BBC's £295,000 director of strategy and digital, despite not having advertised the job.

He said that he felt it was justified in the "exceptional circumstances" the BBC was in following the turmoil of the Savile scandal to act quickly and appoint "the best person for the job" without looking elsewhere.

John Whittingdale, the chairman of the committee, asked him how he could know Mr Purnell was the best person for the job if he "didn't ask anyone else if they were interested", while Angie Bray MP suggested the arrangement was "a bit cosy".

Lord Hall said he had consulted the BBC board, who agreed to the appointment, and said he felt Mr Purnell would not bring political bias to the job because: "He has hung his boots up at the door and left politics behind."

He also defended the decision to broadcast a controversial Panorama documentary, which was accused of endangering a group of LSE students who accompanied an undercover BBC crew.

"The programe did say new things about North Korea, there was a public interest in that programme being broadcast," he said.

Lord Hall said a risk assessment had been carried out and that "the likelihood of them being found out and then deported was the biggest risk".

He said he would have preferred the students to sign written consent forms but "the judgment at the time was it was safer for them to know less".

The BBC would be meeting with the British Academy and the University Association to discuss lessons that could be learned from the row, he added.

Asked about the corporation's coverage of Lady Thatcher's funeral, Lord Hall said he felt the former prime minister's legacy had been covered "appropriately".

"I very much hope we gave a real sense of the different views about her and the Britain that she helped create," he added.

"I would rather be criticised for doing too much rather than too little."

He said he felt the BBC had to "give weight" to certain news events "despite" what audiences may sometimes think.